words & photos by Mike Golembo (with Olivia Rodrigo photos courtesy of Governor’s Ball)

Olivia Rodrigo & David Byrne by Dusana Risovic (for Governor’s Ball)

Due to weather, the second day of Governor’s Ball 2025 involved a frustrating rain delay that pushed doors to 4:30pm, and it unfortunately cut eight acts and shortened others’ sets. However, those who lined up early for Olivia Rodrigo’s headlining set and the artists before her, were highly rewarded with some great music throughout the rain-shortened day.

ARTEMAS

To start the afternoon, I caught a bit of UK artist Artemas' set. His set blended dance and pop into a head-bopping mix, combined with some sultry lyrics. Best known for his hit ‘i like the way you kiss me’, with over a billion streams on Spotify, Artemas drew a relatively sizable crowd that was vibing with him throughout the abridged performance. He (of course) performed the aforementioned single, along with ‘if u think im pretty’, and ‘dirty little secret’, among others. Artemas’s music is very reminiscent of when the Weeknd debuted his House of Balloons mixtape, as he’s able to combine some dark and heavy synths with a bumping bass line while singing about sexual escapades and desires. This Gov Ball set, was admittedly more upbeat musically, and with a smiling Artemas, thanking the ‘early’ crowd throughout, made for a great way to begin Day 2.

Artemas by Mike Golembo

Orion SuN

To say that I was ecstatic to be able to finally see Orion Sun at Gov Ball this year…is an understatement. I’ve been following the Philly-native’s career since prior to the pandemic and have missed multiple opportunities to see her in concert, and she became one of my favorite artists in the last half-decade. So when the start of Day 2 got pushed past her scheduled set time, I was ready for another disappointing miss. But as luck will have it, she was one of the few earlier artists who received a new time slot and I couldn’t have been happier. The moment she took the stage, my smile was almost as wide as hers, and the moment she began to sing my heart fluttered. The abbreviated set allowed for Orion Sun to go through all of my favorites and her standout songs: ‘Lightning’, ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’, ‘dirty dancer’, ‘Already Gone’, and a few more. Along with the crowd, I was singing along to every song, almost bringing a tear to my eyes as I really couldn’t believe I was finally seeing her live. What really got to me was just how amazing she sounds in person— she has her incredibly strong and passionate voice. You can read the emotion in her face as she sings through very deep and personal songs that tug at the heart-strings. I really couldn’t get enough of the set and wished it was infinitely longer, but I was still so incredibly fulfilled once it was over.

Orion Sun by Mike Golembo

WALLOWS

One of the more popular bands of the day at the main stage was Wallows. Known for their frontman Dylan Minnette of 13 Reasons Why fame, the band had the crowd in a frenzy as they came on. The indie-pop group played a highly entertaining set during which Minnette decided to get up-close and personal as he climbed down from the stage to run in between the barricades and proceed to high-five screaming fans. After Minnette’s run through the crowd, he took over to play drums for ‘Quarterback’, which he did masterfully, despite him being lead guitarist. Wallows proceeded to run through all of their major hits and catchy hooks on songs such as ‘Scrawny’ and ‘Are You Bored Yet – the tunes had me singing along despite not knowing the lyrics coming into the show! The end of the set was mired by heavy rain, but that only got the fans even more inspired to scream and live in the moment with Wallows.

Wallows by Mike Golembo

Young Miko

While day two had a strong pop presence, it also featured two hispanic artists– Puerto Rican star Young Miko, and Colombian sensation– Feid. Young Miko took the Keihl’s stage in the early evening to a shrieking crowd, making a bold entrance appearing on top of an LED stage with an image of a scorpion behind her. Once the reggaeton music dropped, that’s when the party exploded. Her music offers a range of classic reggaeton to latin trap, to even some house. Prior to her performing ‘Madre’, a dance heavy, vogue-inducing song, she acknowledged the beginning of Pride Month by exclaiming “Is it gay in here, New York, or is it just me!?” She then proceeded to vogue across the stage to a rousing cheer. Later in the set she had the whole crowd jumping with her current summer trap anthem “WASSUP”. You didn’t need to know the Spanish lyrics to this song in order to get down with this banger.

Young Miko by Mike Golembo

FEID

When Feid took the Keihl’s Stage to close it out for the day, the crowd was greeted with a gigantic 3D printed face hanging above him atop a slanted stage and an old Windows computer desktop projected on the screen behind. Pyro and smoke lit up the performance as Feid, nicknamed Ferxxo, went through a highly entertaining latin trap setlist. He featured songs from his most recent surprise album (FERXXO VOL X: Sagrado), such as ‘DALLAX’ and ‘PIDA LO QUIERA MAMI’, as well as older pieces like his Bad Bunny collab ‘PERRO NEGRO’. The consistent smile on Feid’s face, and the stage presence he brought, really elevated what was an already exciting set. Definitely one of the more fun shows of the weekend.

Feid by Mike Golembo

CONAN GRaY

One of the most anticipated acts of the weekend (due to his popularity) was Conan Gray– he garnered a massive main stage crowd Saturday night an hour and a half before his best friend Olivia Rodrigo. What first took me aback was how many kids were in the crowd with their parents. On shoulders, on stools, on barricades, children everywhere, akin to vertically challenged girls at EDM concerts. So when he first appeared in a sailor’s outfit to match the ship on the ocean theme of the stage design, there was delirium and shrieking from the kids and everyone else in the grounds, the likes of which I’ve never heard before (which was actually toppled later by Rodrigo’s show later). The bit of the set I caught was as if I was part of a Disney Prince Musical number. Gray’s sweet vocals are perfect for his power ballads of love and loss, encapsulating the pop genre in a way few artists currently do. He performed the newly released ‘This Song’ to start, and transitioned to some of his more popular renderings like ‘Never Ending Song’ and ‘People Watching’. While this type of music isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, I couldn’t deny the grace and showmanship that Conan Gray displayed.

Conan Gray by Mike Golembo

OLIVIA RODRIGO

Conan Gray’s performance was really just an introduction to how pop-stars shine, as Olivia Rodrigo brought down the house with her headlining performance. Despite her age, Rodrigo is practically a veteran at this point, knowing exactly what her fans want to see and hear and she didn’t disappoint them. Rodrigo ripped through her albums Guts and Sour with renditions of ‘Vampire’ and ‘drivers license’ of which I even knew some of the words and bellowed out along with the insane crowd. Backed by an all-female band, and at times herself playing guitar and piano, she was jumping around and rocking throughout the stage and her cat-walk for the duration of the set. The big surprise of the night came when Rodrigo brought out the legendary David Byrne to do a duet of ‘Burning Down the House’. Funny enough, this felt almost like she wanted to give all of the brave parents in the crowd a special treat for bringing their kids and waiting out all day to see her. Whatever the case, it was definitely one of the most talked about parts of the festival weekend. In fact, I think Olivia Rodrigo’s first Gov Ball will be a notable highlight that the festival shares for years to come.